Both our immediate state of mind and long-term health strongly depend on our food choices and habits. It is simple common sense for someone who is practicing the healthy lifestyle of Yoga to consider the strong effect that diet has on the body and mind. There are powerful physical and philosophical reasons to follow a healthy diet, and the American Yoga Association’s approach to healthy eating includes a vegetarian diet.

Here are some of the advantages of a really good diet:

• Renewed Vitality – A better diet gives you more energy to add new and exciting activities (like Yoga) to your day. Instead of feeling as if you cannot stand one more thing, you will tend to feel more energetic and also rebound faster from stressful events.
  
• Prevent/postpone chronic diseases – Quite a handful of common diseases, including heart and other cardiovascular disease, some cancers and arthritis among them, have a substantial nutritional component; this is one of the many factors that goes into determining who gets the disease and when. An optimal diet can help protect us from many chronic diseases as we get older.
  
• Maintain/achieve ideal weight – Recent studies have shown that a majority (54%) of American adults are overweight; about 20% are clinically obese. Obesity is still rising at alarming rates, especially in the young. One out of four kids are overweight, and half of these are estimated to be obese. Experts agree that too much junk food and too little exercise are to blame. By focusing on proper eating choices and behavior earlier in life, gaining weight can be prevented. Prevention is much easier than reducing at any age. If you are overweight, chances are excellent that you will need to seriously overhaul what and when you eat in order to permanently attain a more reasonable weight.
  

Experts have known for years, as a result of national nutrition monitoring programs, that most Americans eat too little of the right foods and too much of the wrong foods. The rising tide of obesity, combined with the large percentage of our population with high levels of cholesterol and high blood pressure amply testify to the ravages of too much of the wrong foods.

A number of guidelines from expert groups, including government policy panels and science advisory panels, give clear and virtually unanimous advice on ways to improve the average diet. All such recommendations are perfectly in line with the diet recommended by Yogis throughout the ages. The traditional diet of Yoga philosophy is directly in the path recommended by the majority of nutrition scientists and professionals today.

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